CityTalk/Canada

COVID 1000 and Beyond: Welcome and Introduction

Recent Discussion

With:

  • Alexandra Cropp—Senior Operations Manager, Mokwateh, Winnipeg
  • Steve DeRoy—Director, The Firelight Group, Vancouver

Key
Takeaways

A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation

1. Indigenous placemaking must be Indigenous-led and centred.  

Alexandra Cropp from Mokwateh stressed the importance of incorporating Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge at each phase of the design and planning of placemaking and city-building projects. It is not sufficient to merely consult with Indigenous groups, but to ensure that Indigenous communities are co-creators and are empowered to lead placemaking pursuits as well. This process also includes valuing the unique Indigenous perspectives on urban design, including oral histories, which have been historically disregarded.  

2. We must know our history and act on it.  

Steve DeRoy, CUI Board Member and Co-Founder of the Firelight Group called upon the audience to research, read, and implement the recommendations and imperatives found in previous reports on the rights and reparations due to Indigenous peoples. He called upon the audience to implement the 46 articles in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of Canada, and cited the histories behind each document. We must also investigate the 440 recommendations called for in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report from 1996, and the 231 Calls for Justice from the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women in 2019.  

 3. Moving beyond land acknowledgements to action.  

While land acknowledgements show a respect for Indigenous peoples, they also tend to oversimplify complicated histories and not show due recognition to the ongoing impacts of colonization. The time for mere land acknowledgements has passed, and it is time to do the work. In addition to acting on the existing literature, as mentioned above, we must also give land back to Indigenous peoples and invest in and support Indigenous economies. Our corporate institutions must support Indigenous procurement through their supply chains, and our financial institutions must support the building of equity in Indigenous communities. The way forward is with open ears and hearts and taking the feedback of Indigenous peoples into account at every step.